respond publicly as I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea about what I am saying.

First let me say I have a great deal of respect and appreciation for what you have done for the club over they years and please don’t take anything I have said personally.

Now to be absolutely clear, I have no problem with your suggestion. All suggestions for improving the club are always welcome from anyone.

I know you are going to get people who will claim that they will never submit anything to the BOD as they get shot down every time. I am here to say that is completely false. I can guarantee that all suggestions are brought to the table and discussed before a decision is made. I cant vouch for what happened before I was on the BOD, but I can assure you that this is the way is has been handled since I have been on the BOD.

My problem with your original statement is that it leads people to believe that their votes are not kept in confidence. Now your not the first one to say this and you wont be the last. I can assure you once again that this is absolutely not true.

The only reason names are put on the outside of the envelopes is to prevent fraud and make sure that people who are eligible to vote are only voting once.
A similar situation is when you go to vote in government elections you must produce an ID of voters registration card. To say that people will know who you voted for because you had to show an ID is completely ludicrous.

I have been on the BOD nearly 5 years now and have never had any idea on who someone voted for EVER.

Now there will always be those doubters and those that say they don’t vote because they are afraid someone will find out who they voted for. To me its just plain silly to choose not to make a difference because you are afraid of someone knowing what you stand for.
Its easy to do nothing, and always harder to do the RIGHT thing.

As far as your suggestion, I have absolutely no doubt that participation would be increased if we were to mail everyone a prepaid envelope to mail their votes back in. I don’t think that fact would ever be questioned.

Just as I am sure that by taking out a color billboard on the Las Vegas Strip would increase attendance at our convention or a full page add in every issue of the Las Vegas Journal would increase out membership.

However as with everything I mentioned above there is a cost. The question is does this additional cost add value to the club?

If money were no object, your suggestion would be a no brainer. But money is tight and with decreasing membership it is becoming even tighter.

With additional expenditures, one of 2 things needs to happen. Either we raise additional funds thru raising membership rates (No one wants that), or we decrease spending in other
areas.

That is what the BOD needs to discuss. Is the additional costs worth the outcome.

I guess my point is that the system seems to be working now (Other than the apathy by a majority of club members). Is spending additional funds top get more votes the best use of available funds?

Some may say yes this is the best way to use money and raise convention fees or membership dues. Others will say absolutely not and don’t fix what isn't broken.

All I can say is that I can assure you that this will be a topic of discussion next month.
I think we all want more participation in the election process and if this is the best thing to get that, the maybe it is the right thing to do.

I appreciate the email as well as your offer/challenge and will let you know of the outcome once it is discussed at the BOD meeting.

Thanks again,
Doug